Two a Weekend too Much

Kettering travelled to Nuneaton for the second game of the weekend expecting a hard match against one of the leagues high flyers. They were not disappointed in this regard. From the first minute Nuneaton attacked with speed, precision and zeal. The Kettering players hardly recovered from the Saturday exertions were second best in most tackles early on in the first half. It was hardly surprising then that they took the lead after 10 minutes and extended it after 15. Two well taken goals with the Kettering defence and sixes and sevens as the ball was taken around them.
Kettering rallied and mounted some serious attacks of their own with midfield engine Ollie Smith going close after a nice Aerial into the 'D' saw him free and clear. Unfortunately his pull down and snap mid-air shot flew wide of the Nuneaton goal. Not long after Kettering managed to fashion a shot corner. At the first attempt the ball went past the top of the 'D' to back up Geoff Elliott who few back in to Anthony Paton who's sweeping shot struck a defenders foot. The umpires deemed the shot was going wide so another shot corner ensued. Unfortunately nothing came from this after a bit of a goal mouth scramble.
It wasn't long though before a Kettering attack broke down and Nuneaton burst forward once more and put their defence to the sword. Again Kettering pushed and probed but again got undone by a through ball well taken that cut right through the heart of their defences. 4-0 at half time a harsh lesson for the Kettering defence.
It was soon 5-0 as the second half started badly for Kettering, some quick fire passing brought an appropriate reward for Nuneaton. However they could not extend their lead again for quite some time with Kettering showing much more resilience in the second half after that initial stumble. They harried and pressed and worked hard to keep Nuneaton at bay and to mount their own serious attacks. At the front Anthony Paton and Ollie Smith fashioned several chances but Kettering could not seam to capitalise on the opportunities.
Eventually they were unable to contain Nuneaton any longer and the sixth goal arrived. This did not take any fight from Kettering though as they once more attacked Nuneaton, going close with a drag flick off of a short corner and eventually a long ball from Adam Duell at the back found its way though to Paton at the front who ran it effortlessly into the Nuneaton D and fired it past the despairing keeper to take away the clean sheet. This gave some renewed vim to the Kettering attack and it was they who finished the match the brighter. Kettering had been seriously out played for the majority of the game but can hold the heads up for the effort and continued commitment of the team that prevented what could easily have been a double figure rout. Final score 6-1 to Nuneaton.